Table 2. Hematological data and iron parameters of male wild type and thalassemic mice at the age of 6–7 weeks and 16–20 weeks.

	WT		BKO		P values (2-way ANOVA)
	6–7 weeks	16–20 weeks	6–7 weeks	16–20 weeks	Age	Phenotype	Age × phenotype
RBC count (106/µl)	6.25 ± 0.45	8.91 ± 0.35a	4.95 ± 0.45	4.68 ± 0.66b	0.0270	<0.0001	0.0087
Hemoglobin (g/dL)	9.84 ± 0.66	14.38 ± 0.65a	6.46 ± 0.10a	5.68 ± 0.90b	0.0104	<0.0001	0.0008
Hematocrit (%)	35.42 ± 1.98	44.66 ± 1.40a	22.72 ± 1.70a	19.18 ± 2.54b	0.1634	<0.0001	0.0048
MCV (fL)	57.06 ± 1.71	50.16 ± 0.47a	46.38 ± 1.51a	41.40 ± 1.87b	0.0011	<0.0001	0.5295
MCH (pg)	15.82 ± 0.65	16.12 ± 0.15	13.58 ± 1.52	12.24 ± 1.25b	0.6235	0.0095	0.4415
MCHC (g/dL)	27.78 ± 1.10	32.14 ± 0.52	29.04 ± 2.24	29.34 ± 1.79	0.1541	0.6277	0.2109
RDW (%)	23.02 ± 1.62	12.88 ± 0.05a	34.62 ± 2.69a	27.28 ± 3.28b	0.0014	<0.0001	0.5462
Serum iron (µM)	53.21 ± 3.55	18.47 ± 1.69a	44.44 ± 2.44	20.49 ± 3.27c	<0.0001	0.2509	0.0750
Liver non-heme iron (nmole/mg wet weight)	2.30 ± 0.34	1.92 ± 0.27	9.05 ± 1.67a	8.72 ± 0.91b	0.7207	<0.0001	0.9799
Spleen non-heme iron (nmole/mg wet weight)	5.37 ± 0.40	7.50 ± 0.48	18.97 ± 1.33a	59.22 ± 5.72b,c	<0.0001	<0.0001	<0.0001

Notes:

^aP-value < 0.05 compared with WT aged 6–7 weeks.

^bP-value < 0.05 compared with WT aged 16–20 weeks.

^cP-value < 0.05 compared with BKO aged 6–7 weeks.

RBC, red blood cell; MCV, mean corpuscular volume; MCH, mean corpuscular hemoglobin; MCHC, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration; RDW, red cell distribution width.

Data are expressed as mean ± SEM (n = 5/group). Statistical analysis was performed by 2-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc test.